The New Boy
by Overflow92
Summary: Yukari has run into some educational competition! In the form of a slightly quiet, brand new student!
1. Just Another Monday

**The New Boy**

**So, I've decided to revamp this story after reading some of the reviews! I'm a little fresh to writing these types of stories, and I hope this can be a more enjoyable experience to you, my readers! Please enjoy and review! **

**Chapter 1**

"Hey Yukari, what are you drawing?" Kurumu asked noisily, leaning over the young witch's shoulder. The small-framed brunette rolled her eyes and adjusted her angle so Kurumu could get a good look, "It's just a cat Kurumu… Just a plain simple cat! Happy?"

Kurumu laughed, "Geez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the kiddy bed this morning! What, Moka didn't tuck you in last night?" Yukari sighed, "_Just another Monday…" _she thought to herself. She had grown used to having this teasing relationship with Kurumu, but today, everything seemed to be a bit stale.

"Hey, lay off Kurumu!" Moka mentioned from her desk, "You're being very mean to Yukari this morning…" Yukari smiled very delicately to herself, "_Oh Moka… Always coming to my aid, but not out of the love I feel for you, but because I'm just a kid being bullied… Oh well."_ Truth be told, Yukari didn't sleep good the previous night, or the night before that. The witch had been restless for a while, and she had no idea why.

"Oh she's fine!" Kurumu commented, taking a seat at her own desk, "I'm just helping her build tough skin is all! She'll be thanking her best friend, Kurumu, years from now!" Yukari couldn't help but roll her eyes again, "Whatever you say Kurumu…" she replied dully.

Moka leaned across the aisle and poked Yukari's shoulder, "Hey, are you okay Yukari? You've seemed really out of it lately." Yukari gave her a small smile of reassurance, "Yeah Moka I feel great. Thanks for asking though…" She heard the _clack, clack, clack _of Ms. Nekonome slapping her ruler against her desk. This was Yukari's cue to put her drawing paper away and pay attention.

"Attention class!" Ms. Nekonome began in her usual purring voice, "Today we have a new student!" She gestured to a smaller boy to her left. The boy had spiky brown hair, and brown sad eyes. He didn't look very pleased to be there. Another interesting thing about him was how young he looked, "His name is Jaden Arinaki, and he's a new transfer to Yokai Academy! So everyone make sure to make him feel really welcome!"

She finished her introduction, and gestured to an open desk in the middle of the room. Without saying a word, the boy trudged down a row, and took his seat. Yukari observed him taking out a simple notebook and a pencil, and began to jot down the bits of information Ms. Nekonome was throwing out.

Yukari felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around to receive a note from the girl behind her. _From Kurumu!_ It was written in neat, girly handwriting belonging only to the annoying demon two seats behind Yukari. Sighing, the witch un-wrapped the note, and felt herself resisting the urge to give Kurumu a concussion with one of her washtubs!

_Hey! New boy is cute! Leave poor Tsukune to me, and you have the youngling over there! ;) ;) ;) 3_

Yukari clenched the note in her hand, feeling wide awake now, "_I'll never give my Tsukune up so easily you big-bosomed toad!" _She cast a glance over at the new kid, and saw how his eyes never averted to anything besides his notebook and the teacher. _"He's probably a huge studier," _Yukari thought to herself, wondering why anyone would bother to put so much effort into note-taking. It wasn't as though anybody could beat her in a school academic examination. She stifled a giggle with her palm, "_Ah well! New boy will learn that fact soon enough!" _

Class got out, and the students were cramming to get out the door. Yukari noticed the new boy was silent the entire time, not giving attention to any of the other students. He packed his bag, and made his way out quickly, not throwing a second glance back.

"Wow, Jaden seems really focused on schoolwork," Moka commented. Kurumu laughed and got up real close to Yukari, "Yeah! I hope someone has been studying! After all, only super geniuses get in to high school early right?" Yukari rolled her eyes, "You're such a joke Kurumu; you know I'm the high-score setter for exams around her!" She turned, feeling smug and superior to the rest of her friends.

* * *

Tsukune chuckled nervously, "Be careful Yukari! With an attitude like that, you might find yourself getting just a tiny bit cocky!" Yukari scoffed, "Oh ye of little faith Tsukune! I'm the smartest student on campus, and everyone knows it!"

Kurumu rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you're also the flattest student on campus, how come you never brag about that?" She stuck her tongue out, and was rewarded with a familiar golden washtub materializing out of thin air and connecting with her skull. _Pop, clang, thump! _Yukari nodded superiorly and trotted out of the room, humming happily.

A few days had passed, and Yukari was continuing to suffer in her sleep habits. She would toss and turn for an hour or so, and end up just sitting at her desk the whole night, unable to fully fall asleep. There was the rare hour or so of precious slumber, but the girl was never fully able to enjoy them.

So when the day of mid-term examinations arrived, Yukari actually felt herself struggle a bit. Her mind wasn't acting as sharp as normal, and she spent more time than usual answering each question. However, when the end of the exam had arrived, the young girl left the room feeling as if, once again, she had come out on top!

* * *

The next day, Yukari joined Tsukune and the rest of the group at the lunch table a few hours later, and began to happily devour her food. It took her a few moments to notice, but everyone seemed to be acting a bit strange. Kurumu seemed to be purposefully looking over Yukari's head; Mizore was clenching a manga much too tightly, her face completely hidden behind it; Tsukune was paying way to much attention to the piece of shrimp on his plate; and Moka was looking nervously at her lap.

Yukari observed each of these strange happenings, and slowed her eating, "Hey guys… Is everything okay?" She didn't like this; were the pulling a prank on her? Or did something terrible happen?

No one seemed to want to speak, but finally Moka, albeit in a trembling, scared voice, opened her mouth to reply, "You just seem, awfully, chipper! Despite what happened…" Yukari peered at her curiously, completely unaware of the point her friend was trying to make.

"Uh, Moka," Yukari began, "What on earth are you talking about?" Everyone at the table reacted instantly. Kurumu instantly ripped the manga from Mizore's hands, revealing the scared snow-woman behind it, and began to converse with her rapidly, trying not to meet Yukari in the eyes. Tsukune, feeling the sudden desire to be a gentleman, rapidly cleared all the trays from the table, and made haste across the cafeteria to toss the food.

Only Moka was left with her attention on Yukari, and the young girl felt the fear resonating from her friend, "What's going on Moka, this isn't funny! What happened?" Yukari asked again, feeling suddenly terrified at what was going on. Moka cleared her throat and swallowed, "Have… Have you seen the scoreboard Yukari?" Yukari blinked for a moment, not understanding what she was talking about, before the sudden realization hit her like a cold icy hand gripping her heart.

The witch was gone from the table in a flash. Yukari barreled through the hallways, knocking students and faculty over in the process. She used magic to clear out large groups of people, leaving furious students behind her. She hadn't even bothered to check the scores of the midterms when they were released, as she had never been anything but number 1! She skidded to a stop in the courtyard, in front of the large bulletin board.

Number 2: Yukari Sendo! _Number 2_…. 2. 2. 2. 2. 2. Second place… The horrible thought kept echoing in her head. She had only scored the second highest, out of the whole school. And the person in first place:

Jaden Arinaki.

**I hope you enjoyed this a bit more! Please leave a review! No flames, just constructive criticism and constructive encouragement! Thank you!**


	2. Something Devious

**The New Boy**

**Chapter 2**

Yukari's room was a mess. Books were splayed all around the floor, papers and notes covered her bed and desk, and a very concerned Moka sat cross-legged on the stressing witch's bed. For the young Yukari, that day had been the worst one yet for her at Yokai Academy.

Immediately after discovering her second place score, Yukari was completely speechless. By the time Moka caught up to her, it was as if she was holding and soothing a small child who discovered the remains of her broken toy. Moka had escorted Yukari to her room, and comforted for a good hour or so, before the younger girl had finally stopped crying.

Moka was glad she was able to comfort Yukari some, but she knew it wouldn't last long. The moment her tears had subsided, she began to tear through her notes and textbooks to try and discover where she had gone wrong on her exam. Before long, Yukari's room was barely recognizable, and Moka's growing concern was evident.

"Yukari," Moka began again, feeling a bit hopeless at the situation, "It's only one exam. And he only beat you by a point and a half…" She knew instantly what she said only threw fuel into Yukari's fire. The witch crossed the room in two strides, and Moka felt very small as Yukari jumped on the bed, hands on her hips, and stared down at her.

"You say that as if it isn't a big deal!" Yukari practically screamed, "A point and a half is a huge difference between pass and fail Moka! I basically failed for the first time here!" She jumped off the bed and dug through another literature textbook, "Maybe I missed a question in the literature section! If I find out where, maybe Nekonome will let me get some extra credit or something!"

Moka stood up, and put her hands on Yukari's shoulder, "Sweetie, calm down. You know you won't be able to retake anything…" Yukari stopped reading from her textbook, and turned around to face Moka. The pink-haired beauty braced herself to be screamed at again, but found herself holding Yukari again as she cried into her chest.

"It's not fair Moka!" Yukari sobbed, "I'm supposed to be the smart one here… You, Kurumu, and Mizore are so beautiful! But I'm beautiful and smart! That's why I thought Tsukune would eventually fall for me, despite my age…" Moka felt like growling, but controlled herself, knowing Yukari needed to get all of these emotions out, "And, now, I'm not the smartest student here! I'm just plain, little, dumb Yukari Sendo…"

"Hey, hey," Moka soothed, patting Moka's back, "Yukari, you're in no way dumb! Out of all of us, you're definitely the smartest, not to mention that without you and your brains, who knows how dead we would be right now!" She pushed Yukari away some, giving Moka the opportunity to wipe the tears from her eyes, "Please don't let this one incident change your opinion of yourself; do you know how amazing you are Yukari?"

Yukari looked down, seeming crestfallen. After a few moments, she nodded and gave Moka another hug. Moka smiled, feeling pleased that Yukari seemed to be calming down a bit more. Luckily, Moka had one more trick up her sleeve to cheer her up, "How about we go take a bath Yukari?" Yukari beamed up at her and nodded, before embracing her one more time, and whispering, "Thank you Moka…"

* * *

"Tsukune!" Kurumu ran over and held her dream-lover to her breasts, "You and I did so well on the exams! We should go out and celebrate!" She pushed the startled boy away, and met him in the eyes, "I can make you some yummy desserts…" She whispered seductively.

Tsukune was well used to being treated like this by Kurumu, so he had learned how to manage his breathing so he wouldn't suffocate in her arms. Smiling gently at her, Tsukune replied, "Sure, maybe the whole group can join in?" He turned away to pick up some papers he dropped when Kurumu embraced him, leaving the succubus brooding silently, behind him.

Straightening back up, Tsukune smiled at Kurumu, "Have you seen Yukari at all? Do you know if she's doing any better?" Kurumu shook her head, as the two began to walk towards the courtyard, "Last time I saw her was at lunch, but I think Moka went to love on her some…" Tsukune smiled in acknowledgement, "Good, I'm sure this is really hard on Yukari, and Moka can definitely give her some comfort…"

"Yes, and it means that's two girls who aren't swooning over you today Tsukune," came a familiar, monotone voice. Tsukune and Kurumu froze in their spots, unsure of where Mizore's all-too-familiar voice was coming from. "Why'd you guys stop walking?" The two spun, and gaped at the snow-woman standing directly behind them.

"Mizore, when did you get there?" Tsukune shouted, feeling slightly violated that Mizore always showed up out of nowhere. Mizore tilted her head curiously, "Silly… I've been walking behind you for the last 5 minutes…" Tsukune shivered a bit from the icy resonance fluttering from the girl.

Joined by Mizore, the three took a seat at one of the outside tables, and began to chat nonchalantly about general, day-to-day things, and some possible ideas for the newspaper. Kurumu looked up from a piece of paper she was jotting down some fashion ideas on, "Hey, Mizore look! It's the new kid…"

Across the courtyard was Jaden, sitting in the shade of a tree, and reading a mathematics textbook. "Hard to believe he's still studying after just taking an exam yesterday…" Tsukune commented, "He's really intense about his studying!" Kurumu observed him for a little bit, before she felt a light click on her head!

"Let's give him an interview!" Kurumu declared, "We'll make it a side column! It's not often a new student comes through here and completed aces every exam after just one week of school!"

Tsukune thought the idea was good, but considered the consequences, "Um, Kurumu, I don't think you're really considering Yukari's feelings in this…She would be really hurt if we were to put that in the newspaper!"

"Yeah, it would suck," Mizore commented nonchalantly, replacing her sucker with a new one, and smiling happily. Kurumu shook her head, "But we'd be doing it for her! I don't think Jaden is a completely honest kid! There's no way that kid could beat our Yukari after only a few days of school here!"

"Oh, so you want to see if he cheated in some way?" Tsukune asked, feeling a bit uneasy about it, "Isn't that a bit extreme Kurumu? Maybe he really is just super smart, and he's probably already trying to avoid attention for his grades already…"

Kurumu didn't seem convinced, "Let me run an interview anyway! If he seems legitimate, which I doubt, we'll come up with some excuse not to run the story for Yukari's sake! If he's a dirty rotten cheater, we'll publish it and restore Yukari's number 1 spot!"

"I don't know Kurumu… Jaden doesn't look like a cheater," Tsukune took a hard look at the boy casually reading his textbook, "Just, doesn't do anything to embarrass him if he doesn't deserve it, okay?"

Kurumu beamed, "You got it Tsukune!" Tsukune gathered his stuff and left to go to his gym class, and Mizore took a long hard glance at Kurumu, "You have ulterior motives. What's going on Kurumu?"

The succubus smiled deviously, "Oh, don't you worry about that Mizore! I just want to give our genius new student some time to shine!"

**Here's Chapter 2! I hope you enjoy, and look forward what type of devious plan Kurumu has in store for the new student! Read and Review!**


	3. Breathing Problems

**The New Boy**

**Chapter 3**

"Ah," Moka sighed contently, lowering herself into the perfectly-tempered bath water. Her specialty herbs coated the top of the water, adding an interesting floral smell to the bathhouse. Besides herself and Yukari, the bathhouse was completely empty, adding a delicate image of peace to an otherwise stressful day.

"I second that 'Ah,'" Yukari whispered happily, leaning against the padded wall of the oversized swimming pool that made up the girls bathtub, "We need to do this more often Moka… We really, really do!" Moka giggled softly, "We have a bath together every other night Yukari, what more can we do?"

Yukari looked at her with mock seriousness on her young face, "Um, how about every single night! I think it is well worth it…" She swirled some of the floating herbs in a circle on top of the water, "These smell really weird Moka, what are they exactly?"

Moka blushed, "Do they really? I always thought they smelled really sweet, and added kind of a 'bath scent' to the experience… The herbs themselves are my own personal blend; they're a mixture of- Eep! Oh my goodness it's really cold!" Moka instantly began to shiver, teeth clattering, and a split second later, Yukari was joining her, when a familiar purple-hair girl poked her head out of the water.

"Mizore!" Yukari and Moka screamed in unison, covering their bodies with their arms and rubbing their chests, "When did you get here!" Mizore swam towards the two and sat herself in between them, "I need a bath too…"

Yukari couldn't handle it any more. She hopped out of the water and grabbed four large fluffy towels from the rack, "You couldn't wait a little longer, sheesh Mizore!" She bundled herself up in the towels and sat down next to the tub, and began to rock back and forth. "So cold, so cold, so cold…" she kept muttering to herself.

Mizore beamed with pleasure, "I don't know why you two are panicking, the water feels much more relaxing now correct?" Moka narrowed her eyes at Mizore, before climbing out and retrieving her robe, "I don't know how you handle it so cold; even for a snow-woman this seems ridiculously drafty!"

Mizore shrugged, and circled her lollipop in her mouth, "I don't know how you don't melt in these hot springs you call a bathtub, but you don't hear me complaining- oh great…" There was a group of giggling girls entering the room, towels wrapped around their chests, and they were all chatting nonchalantly amongst themselves.

"Well," Moka said, letting her hair down from its bun-position, "We can't expect to hog the whole bathtub to ourselves; Yukari? Are you ready to go get dressed?" Yukari opened her mouth to respond, when one of the new-arrivals turned their way.

"Hey Yukari!" she called out, while a couple of her friends stifled their laughter. Moka frowned, "_This can't be good…"_ Yukari looked up, after pulling on a couple of socks for some extra warmth, "Yes?" she replied, smiling pleasantly.

The girl, barely able to contain her laughter, took a few steps towards Yukari, "We just wanted to know if you were breathing okay! A bunch of us girls were growing very concerned about your respiration!" Yukari and Moka shared a look of confusion, and looked at Mizore, who just shrugged at them. Yukari looked back at the girl, "Uh, yeah, I feel fine. I mean, I'm breathing just fine… Why? Who asks a question like that?"

"Oh," the girl began, looking as if holding in her laughter would rupture her insides, and "We just know falling from your pedestal so rapidly can cause some oxygen problems! How does it feel to be on the same level as the rest of us pipsqueak?" The rest of the girls burst into laughter, unable to contain their composure any longer.

Moka and Mizore glowered at the girls in anger, with the water around Mizore actually beginning to freeze up from the snow-woman's rage. "You girls are just awful!" Moka shouted, stepping closer to the still Yukari, "Leave Yukari alone! She doesn't deserve to be treated so poorly by you!"

The leader of the girls let out a guffaw, "Oh please! Look at her! She's fine; it's just some light teasing… Get your panties out of a knot Moka, geez! We just want to welcome Yukari to the world of the dumb-asses is all?" She crossed over and pinched Yukari's cheek, "After all, that's what she always thinks we are, right?" She sneered at the teary-eyed Yukari, and joined the rest of the girls in their laughter.

_Fwoooosh! _The temperature of the air in the room suddenly dropped tremendously, and the laughter ceased immediately. Instead, where all the girls were standing, were several individual ice blocks, with each girl frozen inside in their mocking poses. Mizore took a few deep breaths and climbed out of the water, snatching her robe from the rack, "Bunch of rejects…"

Moka glared at the frozen girls, and went to embrace Yukari, "Don't listen to a word they say Yukari; they're just rude and horrible girls! Yukari?" The young girl hadn't moved at all since the teasing began. _Plop, plop, plop. _The sound of each individual tear hitting the tile floor of the bathhouse might as well have been a cannon going off. Moka gasped, and before she could bring Yukari in, the pre-teen darted away.

"Yukari! Yukari, come back!" Yukari ignored Moka's shouts, as she sprinted towards the stairs, wrapped in nothing but towels. Other girls in the dorm stared at her as she passed by, but she ignored them and continued up the stairs to her room. _Slam! Click! _She made sure the door was well-locked, before hurling herself onto her bed and sobbing into her pillow.

Moka and Mizore sprinted after her, but they weren't swift enough to keep up with the quicker girl before she locked herself into her room. They knocked and pleaded, but the door never opened. Almost ready to freeze the door off its hinges, Moka shook her head, and lead the snow-woman away, the both of them feeling helpless to their younger friend.

**Meanwhile, across the campus…**

"Hi! It's Jaden right?" Kurumu beamed brightly at the new kid, seating underneath the large oak tree. The younger boy looked up at her, looking a little surprised, "Uh yeah… C-can I help you?"

Kurumu smiled happily at him, "I'm Kurumu! I just wanted to personally congratulate you on scoring the highest out of all the students at Yokai Academy! You must be really thrilled with yourself!" Jaden didn't respond, but just kind of gaped at the girl. Kurumu offered him a handshake, which he took with a trembling response.

The succubus blushed inwardly, "_He must be kind of shy…" _she reasoned, "Anyway! I just wanted to offer you the chance to be interviewed! It's not often a new student completely outshines everyone else at their high school!" She beamed again, waiting for him to say yes.

Jaden looked absolutely and utterly bewildered, "Y-you, want to interview me? N-no thanks, I think that would only cause t-t-trouble for me, which I'm kind of looking to avoid?" He smiled apologetically and averted his attention back to his textbook. Kurumu was floored; she was honestly not expecting anything but a yes from this geek! Well, she wasn't going to be taking no for an answer! Kurumu cleared her throat, and plopped down next to him.

"Look," she reasoned, wrapping her arms around her knees, "You're new here! And that means you probably don't know many people… I guarantee you though, a lot of people know who YOU are, and how you came out of nowhere and usurped the number one smartest girl at this school!" Jaden stopped reading and closed his book, while Kurumu continued her speech, "So if you think about that, you've already caused trouble! However, if you take this interview, you may be able to avoid any more trouble, sound good?" She grinned, waiting for his response.

Jaden stared at her long and hard, suddenly not looking very shy anymore, "If I do this, will you just leave me alone?" His voice was short, and frustration was laced inside of it. Kurumu smiled happily, "Absolutely! Let's go!" She took Jaden's hand and yanked the young boy up, and darted towards the newspaper classroom, dragging the struggling boy behind her.

**Back at the girl's dormitory…**

Yukari sat up in her bed, wiping her tears away with her arm. Her chest was aching with hurt. She felt as if her very heart was stabbed with an ice-pick _made of _ice! She always figured Mizore would go crazy one day and off her and the other girls in the harem in a similar style, but surprisingly, this feeling had nothing to do with her icy friend.

She looked at herself in the mirror, and Yukari knew that she looked like a massive mess. Yukari tossed all of the towels into a pile next to her closet, and pulled on a slip-on robe, and sat down next to her bed, and held her knees to her chest, before simply staring at the floor for a long time. She was startled when a sudden knock hit her door.

Checking herself in the mirror again, she sighed and went to the door, "Moka, I- Oh… Hi Ruby!" She smiled weakly and held her door open for the elder witch to enter the room. Shutting the door behind her, Yukari turned and offered another weak smile, "Sorry, I thought you were Moka…"

Ruby smiled knowingly, "She wanted to come with me, but I figured you didn't want a crowd… Bad day huh?" She sat on the bed and patted next to her. Yukari obediently sat quietly next to her and rolled her head so it was resting on her friends shoulder, "You could say that… Actually, it's probably been the worse day ever."

The elder witch nodded, "Well, why don't you tell me about it sweetie?" She planted a kiss on the top of Yukari's head, "We will work through it together." She took Yukari's hand and rubbed her arm encouragingly.

**So, I know these last two chapters were posted in rapid unison, but I wanted to get things moving a bit! I hope you all are enjoying! Please leave some reviews for me! Have a great rest of the week! **


	4. Backhanded Schemes

**The New Boy**

**Chapter 4**

Jaden squinted as Kurumu shined the light in his face. They were seating in the Newspaper Room, but to the goal-set Kurumu, it had become the interrogation room. In a flash, she had changed into her Sherlock-type detective uniform, and flipped off the lights, and turning on a bright desk lamp on the table Jaden was seated behind.

"This seems a bit over the top for an interview…" Jaden whispered quietly, averting his eyes from the overly-bright light. Kurumu grinned and sat down across from him, "I think this is a perfect setting for such a hardcore interview! Now, Jaden…" She pulled out her notebook and a pencil, "You're obviously a younger boy, much too young to be a regular high school student, how old are you?"

Jaden turned a little red, and nervously cleared his throat, "I am, um 13. I'm thirteen years old…" Kurumu jotted this down, taking note of the fresh teenager rubbing his palms nervously on his pant legs. Meeting him in the eyes, she asked her next question, "So, you're aware you're not the youngest student here! There's a 12 year old here as well, and judging by the brains on her, I'm assuming you two, skipped several grades, correct?" The younger boy nodded, "Yes ma'am, I did…"

Kurumu shuddered, "No, no. No ma'am please, just Kurumu. I'm not that old kiddo!" She took another note, "So, how did you, after only three days of attendance at Yokai Academy, score a point and a half higher on the midterms than the previous smartest student in the school?" Jaden turned bright red, "I s-s-studied really hard, what's so wrong about that?"

Kurumu raised her eyebrows at him, "Studying that hard for your first exam is admirable, but wouldn't a new student be better off, making friends? Or making enemies? Or, doing anything besides studying really?" Jaden shook his head, "I… I'm not really much of a social person, I prefer to hang back and read…"

The detective chewed on the tip of her pencil, "Now that's curious… Speaking honestly, you're a pretty decent-looking fellow, and you don't look like much a thug or a trouble-maker! Why aren't you out trying to make friends?" Jaden peered at her, and crossed his arms across his chest, "I'm a thirteen year old in high school, what on earth do I have to talk about with people, let's say, your age?" He waved an open hand in front of Kurumu, gesturing silently to her amazing body.

Kurumu giggled, "I admit, your age difference is a bit different in this community, but that shouldn't prevent you from making friends…" She closed her notebook, tucked the pencil away, and leaned across the table, "Why don't you let me help you make a new friend?" Jaden leaned back, mouth opened a small bit, and stared at Kurumu with a shocked expression, "This isn't an interview at all, is it Kurumu?"

The succubus smirked wickedly, "You are sharp, and no, no it's not."

* * *

Yukari trudged along the dirt pathway towards the school. Her expression was still sadder than it joyful, but her talk with Ruby had really helped her out. She now knew that she couldn't let this one incident hold her down and drown her, and that she had to fight back to earn what she considered was her position at Yokai Academy.

_"And don't forget, Jaden is a student here too, so don't go out of your way to hurt him,"_ Ruby had expressed, _"Just study harder from now on! You have a lot of distractions, especially in your feelings for Moka and Tsukune! You should just push those feelings away, and begin to work on how your academics plan out… You have a bright future Yukari, which is more than a lot of other students at this school, can claim…"_

Those were the most iconic statements of the advice Ruby had given her, and she planned to act on them. She turned onto the paved pathway leading towards the library. Her plan was to retrieve some textbooks, go back to the dorm, straighten it up, and begin to study again. She wasn't going to be distracted by silly trivial issues, or even Tsukune. Yukari had an academic reputation to uphold, and she planned to throw herself back on top!

Yukari stopped in her tracks, and looked dramatically up at the sky, and thrust her fist into the air, _"Jaden Arinaki! You are going down!"_

* * *

Ruby walked smugly to the lobby of the girl's dormitory, where she felt a sudden cold air embraced her, "Cheater!" The witch spun and found herself eye to eye with Mizore. Stumbling back a few seconds due to being startled, Ruby regained her composure and flattened her skirt, "Mizore, you need to stop doing that to people, and on top of that, I have no idea what you are talking about." She turned to leave, only to find Mizore directly behind her.

"Huh!" Ruby looked behind her, and then back at Mizore, "_She's so fast!" _Mizore crossed her arms and glared at Ruby, "You cheated. You gave Yukari bad advice. You were not a very good friend to her Ruby." Ruby felt a bead of sweat protrude from her forehead, despite feeling awfully cold in Mizore's presence, "H-h-how did you even know about that Mizore?"

The snow-woman tilted her head at her, "Well, first, not only did you just tell me, but I also peep in on Yukari occasionally, to see if she's planning in backhand techniques for winning Tsukune's heart. Apparently in that bedroom though, you're the one who works the devious backhand schemes!"

Ruby turned bright red, and looked away, "It's a long story Mizore, but yes. It's true! I may have given Yukari some poorly drawn-out advice, but it works for the benefit for both her, and all of us! Now, Yukari is focused on school, and the rest of us can continue clawing each other's hearts out for Tsukune's love…"

Mizore shook her head, "It feels wrong… Yukari's hurt right now, and you and Kurumu seem to think taking advantage of her is the best idea, and it's not going to end well!" Ruby looked up, brow furrowed in confusion, "Wait, what on earth is Kurumu up to?"

**Back at the school…**

Yukari waddled out of the library, weighed down from the large pile of books in her arms. She could barely see over the top of the stack, so running into someone in the hall should have been expected of the young, emotionally confused witch!

_Thud!_ The books splayed across the ground, and Yukari hit the ground hard on her bottom, "Owie! Owie! Owie!" She whined, clenching her eyes shut in pain. She shook it off and got on her hands to push herself up, "I'm so sorry, I'm having a bad day, and I wasn't watching where I was going!" Still not looking at person she collided with, she began to collect the scattered books.

"Its fine, I promise…" came a quiet shy voice, "Here, let me help you…" Yukari froze, and looked up, and found herself face-to-face with a very nervous looking Jaden.


End file.
